Contingency Plans
by bissek
Summary: A misstep ruins the Zero Requiem. But Lelouch has learned the value of backup plans. Character Deaths.


Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass

Contingency Plans

By Bissek

Kallen's eyes widened in shock as Zero emerged. How could Zero possibly challenge the Demon Emperor Lelouch? Lelouch _was_ Zero.

As she watched from where she had been shackled on the transport, she could easily see that the person claiming to be Zero was not the person she had served, even without the knowledge that the real Zero was the person that 'Zero' was there to defeat. The Zero she knew was a man of clever strategies and dramatic gestures. He was not a man of speed and close range martial skill. Kallen knew that she could break the real Zero in half with her bare hands if she wanted to. Which she did at the moment, if only she could get close enough to do so.

Kallen figured out who 'Zero' was when she saw him take out one guard with a very familiar spin kick. What was Lelouch planning, to have his Knight of Zero impersonate Zero? Her answer came as the foot of 'Zero' came down upon a spent shell casing, causing him to slip. The precious fraction of a second that it took the false Zero to regain his footing allowed the remaining guards to draw a bead on him. The person who appeared to the world to be the friend of the powerless was struck by several bullets and fell to the street.

Lelouch had arranged for a mock Zero to attack him so that he could destroy him, and with him, all thought of resistance to his rule. Zero was a symbol of hope to the oppressed, and by killing him, Lelouch had killed hope with him. And he apparently didn't care that he had murdered someone he had appeared to consider a friend to do so.

Had Lelouch been planning this all along? To create a champion so that he could defeat him at a time of his choosing? Had everything he had done with the Black Knights been a ruse to lead up to this moment? Was this _thing_ that sat upon the throne of Britannia the true face of the man she had admired? Even loved? Kallen had thought she was a good actress with the way she had created the persona of Kallen Stadtfeldt to conceal her true self as Kallen Kouzuki. She was nothing compared to the soulless monster named Lelouch vi Britannia.

Kallen and the other Black Knights hung their heads in shame and cursed the day that they had ever listened to Zero as they were transported to the place of their execution. The only mercy they would receive is that they would never see what would happen to the world now that Lelouch had won.

As the Black Knights were taken from the transport, Lelouch began a victory speech.

"People of the world, look upon your master!" He decreed, "The last man who dared to think he could challenge the might of Britannia has fallen…"

Kallen tuned out the speech. Then she realized that the guards were no longer trying to move her along. They had turned around, and were all staring obediently at their Emperor. With a burst of understanding, Kallen knew that the world's greatest strategist had made a fatal mistake. His guards were all Geassed slaves, compelled to obey his every whim. Until he countermanded the order he had accidentally given them to look at him, they couldn't do anything else.

Kallen carefully edged towards one of the guards. It was tough, but she was able to grab the keys to her bindings off of his belt with her hands bound behind her and free herself. Then she made a straight line dash towards the Emperor. Her comrades would have to free themselves. She would only have one chance, and she didn't dare give him the opportunity to correct his mistake.

She cleared the distance towards the platform which Lelouch was poised upon swiftly. As she ascended the ramp, Lelouch noticed what had happened and broke off his speech. Knowing that he could get her killed by the guards with a single command, Kallen took advantage of the only weakness she could see in his Geass: He couldn't possibly make someone obey an order he hadn't given. Strip him of the ability to issue commands, and nobody will follow them.

Before Lelouch could order his guards to shoot, Kallen drove a knife hand chop into his throat, followed by a fist into his gut. He staggered back, gasping for breath. He tried to draw his sword, but Kallen grabbed his wrist and twisted it, forcing the sword to drop as his wrist broke. Kallen grabbed the sword and thrust forward.

Lelouch gasped in pain as the blade pierced his chest and went completely through his body. Then he reached up and gently brushed her face with his uninjured hand and hoarsely whispered four words. Kallen froze with surprise at the words he had spoken. Then she understood, and pulled the sword out and let events progress as they had to.

Kallen had read a book in school that claimed that you could identify a truly evil man by the fact that not a single woman would mourn his death. Judging by Nunally's hysterical cries of grief as she knelt over the dying form of her brother, Lelouch hadn't managed to sink that far. And there was at least one other woman who would mourn him. But not here, not now. Kallen would never be able to mourn Lelouch in public.

For she was no longer Kallen Stadtfeldt, daughter of an Earl. She was no longer Kallen Kouzuki, daughter of an Earl's mistress. For the rest of her life, she would always be Q-1, the ace Knightmare pilot who had served as Zero's right hand, and had avenged her mentor's death. The heir to Zero's legacy who would serve as the symbol that would hold the world together until the people of the world became accustomed to resolving their problems without war.

She would have to ensure that Suzaku's body was burned with the mask still on, and that all the other Black Knights were sworn to silence about who Zero truly was. If the mystery was ever unraveled, if the world knew that Zero's final battle was staged, there was no telling what could happen.

For Lelouch hadn't intended for Zero to slip and be killed. He had originally planned for the champion of justice he had invented to defeat him, allowing for hope to triumph and 'Zero' to be the symbol that would hold the world together. But since chance had ruined that plan, he had used his contingency plan and deliberately given Kallen the opening she needed to act as a stand-in for Zero.

As one girl cried, several dozen guards stared thoughtlessly at a corpse and the rest of the world cheered, Kallen mused on how Lelouch could explain so much in a mere four words. Four words that would echo in her memory for the rest of her life.

_Thank you, my love._

_

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A/N: Relying on things to happen the way you want them to happen is asking for trouble. Given how much Lelouch had riding on dying during his triumph, it's entirely possible that he had backup plans in place to ensure that he really did die.

'Evil indeed is the man who has not one woman to mourn him' – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, _The Hound of the Baskervilles_. Most of those stories could exist in the CGverse with the replacement of places in Europe with places in North America.


End file.
